For some postal employees, small thefts spell big troubleGovernment takes a firm stance on what it sees as an abuse of trust

MARY FLOOD, Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle |
December 8, 2008

When postal inspectors want to catch a thief in the ranks, the bait may be a little plastic gift card in a greeting card envelope, just like the holiday cheer you may be about to stamp and mail.

That's exactly how Peter Lim was caught. The 17-year postal employee looked remorseful in Houston federal court on Dec. 1. He told the court that he was so angry with his supervisors he opened greeting cards and stole $55 in cash, a $10 Wal-Mart gift card, a $20 Target gift card and a $50 Lowe's gift card. The total was $135, and because of where the 51-year-old worked, it was a federal offense.

"There's absolutely zero tolerance by the government," said John Floyd, Lim's lawyer. "If it wasn't for the abuse of trust issue, these cases would just be misdemeanors."

But abuse of trust is exactly what the cases are about, and they are federal felonies. It's a federal felony for a postal carrier to steal mail or to throw out mail. It's also a federal felony to stockpile junk mail in the backyard or a storage shed, as other mail carriers have done in recent years.

"Most employees at the postal service are hardworking and trustworthy. This isn't systemic," said Agapi Doulaveris, spokeswoman for the postal branch of the Office of Inspector General in Virginia. "We have zero tolerance on employee theft cases because we want to ensure that the American public has faith in the postal system."

Floyd said he's had five postal worker clients accused of theft or destroying mail. "They are often very small amounts that would be lesser charges in any other circumstance. But instead, Mr. Lim has to start all over in life. The government policy seems to be to provide a lesson for all other postal carriers."

According to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service's latest semiannual report, there were 333 criminal cases filed nationwide against postal employees or contractors for mail theft, delay or destruction in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30.

Some examples in the report include a California supervisor who pleaded guilty in May to theft of mail in a case involving 4,500 missing DVDs. In June, a North Dakota carrier was arrested, accused of stealing more than 36,500 pieces of mail.

Last month, a North Carolina letter carrier, beloved on his route for handing treats to dogs and chatting up customers, was sentenced to probation for stashing and burying tons of undelivered third-class mail in his backyard. His attorney attributed the carrier's reluctance to deliver the hefty stuff to his client's poor health.

In the Houston courts, there happened to be three postal employees on the federal criminal dockets last week.

Lim was caught when he stole bait gift cards meant for another suspect at his Spring-area post office. U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore sentenced him to two years' probation. She also said she did not think his crime "made any sense at all" and suggested he learn to deal with slights and not let his emotions get the best of him.

Ex-postal employee Calvin Williams was found guilty by a jury Tuesday after Assistant U.S. Attorney Tammie Moore showed he'd pocketed $1,400 customers paid for stamps at a post office in The Woodlands area.

Postal carrier LaNardsha Rose saw her request to change her guilty plea reset to this week on charges she stole checks from customers and used their identities.

Winston Cochran, Rose's lawyer, said she will likely get prison time because the law demands two years' detention in cases of aggravated identity theft. Rose is accused of identity theft by using three other women's identities to steal using checks and a credit card in their names.

Over the past two fiscal years, the Houston office has handled 25 cases against postal employees. None of those focused on Christmas gifts.

But in 2005, a postal worker in New Orleans was sentenced to prison for stealing, among other things, a Dillard's gift card and a Wal-Mart gift card out of Christmas cards she stashed away in a basement stairwell.

According to a Justice Department press release, the judge called her crimes "despicable, particularly during the Christmas season."